


Ring of Fire

by whythursdaynext



Series: King Pride's Rowdy Dive (Charity for All) [2]
Category: NCIS: New Orleans
Genre: F/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, and Johnny Cash, and Pride's bar which is now the sitcom home base for this show, and headcannons about Lasalle and Johnny Cash, but it's really actually light, ish light ish, okay i know the name sounds dark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-30 22:24:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6444367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whythursdaynext/pseuds/whythursdaynext
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another Saturday night at Pride's bar. Sonja doesn't know who Johnny Cash is. Lasalle takes this personally. Also there's some comment about dating or somethin'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ring of Fire

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MeredithBrody](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeredithBrody/gifts).



> Shoutout to meredithbrody who gave me the idea for this just with "Lasalle owns the complete works of Johnny Cash." That one sentence, and here we are. Pining. ALL OF THE PINING I do love me some slow burn.
> 
> Edit: I enjoyed writing this so much, I'm turning it into a Persalle Series. Persalle for all. No, Charity for All, that's the name of the bar. But I've been calling it King Pride's Rowdy Dive, so we'll go with that.

It was Saturday, after a long week of uneventful stakeouts, and the whole NCIS crew had ended up at Pride’s place.

Sonja was perched on a stool at the end of the bar, sipping her beer and making faces at Lasalle, who was tending again. He was ignoring her and flirting with a blonde in daisy dukes down the other end. She didn’t mind that much until she looked down and realized her glass was empty and that she didn’t have another in front of her. 

“Country Mouse what you doin’?” She yelled down the bar. “Can’t a girl get a drink in this establishment?” 

Chris took his time saying farewell to the blonde before he moseyed on back to her, a brand new bottle of Abita in his hand. “Aww, City Mouse, you got to have some patience, enjoy the am-bee-on-ce,” he drawled. “You got your brew, take it slowly. Don’t want to have to fireman carry you home again.” 

“That was one time,” Sonja protested. “And it was Mardi Gras, we were all smashed.” 

“I was sober enough to get your ass home. I coulda left you at the office.” 

Sonja made a face at him. “I’m going slow enough, officer.” 

Chris grinned at the title. He put his elbows on the bar and leaned closer. “Just doin’ my duty, ma’am.” 

Sonja tried to look annoyed, but couldn’t entirely keep the smile off her face. 

“If you’re going to harass the customers, you’re going have to go on the other side of the bar.” Pride moved over from the piano. “Really, Christopher, you can take it easy the rest of tonight, I’ve got the bar.” 

“Alright boss.” Lasalle said, grabbing his long neck on his way out. He came round the bar and slid onto the stool next to Percy.

She raised an eyebrow. “You’re not going to go chat it up with the Little Miss Country over there? She seems your style.” 

Little Miss Country, the blonde, was giggling with a group of similarly adorned women in the corner next to the jukebox. 

“Naw, I’m taking the evening off from romantic pursuits.” 

“You’ve been saying that for a while now.” 

Chris shrugged and sipped his beer. “A smart man waits for the right woman to come to him. I don’t need to chase them.” 

“Oh sure you don’t.” Sonja said into her beer. 

“You got something to say on the subject, City Mouse?” 

“You’re still gun shy after…” She paused, not drunk enough to forget the kind of damage Savannah’s death had done to him.  “You’ve just been benching yourself for a long time.” 

Chris seemed unperturbed. “So have you.” 

Sonja leaned away from him. “Since when do you know anything about my personal life?” 

Chris grinned mysterious. “Oh, I know people.” 

“What people do you know exactly?” Sonja shot back. “Oh right, the people we work with. Sebastian don’t know anything, and Brody wouldn’t tell you squat. We’ve got a code Mister. I think you know shit.” 

Chris just took another swig of beer, looking smug. Sonja rolled her eyes at him and turned to survey the crowd at Pride’s bar again. The blonde was now in front of the jukebox, her friends still giggling next to her. 

“Seriously,” Sonja said. “Little Miss Country’s going to put on some twangy nonsense, and all I wanted was a peaceful evening.”

Lasalle turned to look. “Now just because someone looks like they’re-” 

The bar was suddenly filled with an old Alabama song, and the daisy duke girls started singing along loudly, if off key. 

Lasalle turned back to his beer. “So in this instance, she happened to be an Alabama fan. I see your point. But she could have played New Country, and then you’d really be in for it.” 

Sonja just shook her head. “I’m sure that this is a moderately less evil than whatever you’re talking about.” 

“These Nashville people nowadays, they don’t know a damn about music. Best country singer who ever lived was Johnny Cash. All gone downhill since he passed.” 

“You don’t expect me to know who that is.” Sonja said. 

“You don’t know Johnny Cash? City Mouse, you’ve been missing out,” Lasalle said, and downed the last of his beer. “Folks these days be so lost.” 

“Uh huh.” Sonja made sure the skepticism was extra clear. 

“You don’t believe me?” Lasalle shook his head in mock disapproval. “Well, I can fix that.” 

He pushed off his barstool and headed towards the other side of the room. Sonja turned back to the bar and waved at Pride to get them another round, figuring she was going to need more alcohol if she was going to stick around here. 

The jukebox suddenly switched to something that sounded like the love child of a spaghetti western and a maraichi band. Sonja gratefully accepted another beer from Pride, but she didn’t have a chance for a single drink before it was lifted out of her hand. Lasalle then pulled her off her barstool. 

“What are you doing?” Sonja asked, as he dragged her towards a free space on the floor. 

Lasalle spun her into a dance hold. “Dancing. Introducing you to Johnny Cash.” 

Percy frowned as the maraichi trumpets blared again. “This is Johnny Cash?” 

“Of course.” Lasalle grinned and started singing. 

“I fell into a burning ring of fire/ I went down, down, down and the flames grew higher/ And it burns, burns, burns, the ring of fire./ The ring of fire.” 

“That seems... dark.” Sonja said, once she’d stopped nearly tripping over her own feet. “You sure this is the greatest country singer ever?” 

“It’s not dark, it’s a love song,” Lasalle countered. “Damn good one.” 

“So, the love is the… fire?” 

“Cash was the best ‘cause he knew the truth. Love ain’t always an easy thing, City Mouse.” Chris said, suddenly a little serious. 

The trumpets faded out, and he spun her out and back in again, pulling her almost a little too close. 

“Naw,” Sonja looked up at him. “It ain’t ever easy,” she said, and headed back to the bar for her beer. 


End file.
